2 Royals players who are in danger of being replaced at the 2025 trade deadline

J.J. Picollo and the Kansas City Royals front office have already been as busy as any team this month ahead of Thursday's MLB trade deadline.

First, it was the bench that saw an upgrade after the Royals swung a deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 16 for a familiar face in utility man Adam Frazier.

Then on Saturday, the Royals made even more impact, trading for a solid veteran bat in Randal Grichuk to address their desperate need for outfield reinforcements.

Come Sunday though, the biggest transaction of all occurred, as the Royals appeared to firmly place themselves in the "going for it" category for 2025 after extending Seth Lugo to a multi-year contract.

If Picollo and the Royals really are "in the business of getting better" though, they'll need to continue to keep the foot on the gas and add further. This would mean that some positions would be upgraded and those filling those roles currently would be the unfortunate casualties of such moves.

2 Royals players who are in danger of being replaced at the 2025 trade deadline

CF Kyle Isbel

Isbel is certainly a confusing case for the Royals. While there's no denying, he's not a great hitter - as his 73 wRC+ has proved this season - he always seems to find away to do just enough to make his everyday inclusion in the lineup out in center not an egregious misstep.

His calling card is his defense, as Isbel is one of the best defenders in baseball at a premium position in center. So far this season, he's provided 5 DRS and 7 OAA, both ranking him amongst the Top 10 center fielders in baseball.

Then, there's the fact that despite being an overall poor hitter, he seems to do just enough to make himself a suitable nine-hole bat. He's managed to string together a solid batting average for a bottom-third hitter of .252 and his 62nd percentile strikeout rate of 19.3% proves he's at least putting the ball in play more often than most.

But for how long will his above-average defense or ability to the basic things at the plate going to outweigh his immense flaws offensively? The Royals have had a problem scratching runs across the board all season, and a 73 wRC+ hitter is going to hinder their ability to improve that weakness more often than he'll aid the effort.

With some improvements potentially on the market such as Minnesota's Harrison Bader, or even to a greater degree Boston's Jarren Duran - whom they've been linked to already this summer and has some games in center under his belt this season as well - the opportunity is there for the Royals brass to get a better bat in center.

LF John Rave

Essentially, the Royals might have replaced Rave already - who's stronger play post All-Star break have given him plenty of starting reps in left field - after the Royals made the trade for Grichuk. The only reason he'll likely receive the same workload for the time being is the fact that Jac Caglianone unfortunately hit the IL right as Grichuk arrived.

As much as Rave has looked better of late, he's still an unproven entity at the major league level. So, it's uncertain whether his 126 wRC+ since the All-Star break is sustainable or whether he'll revert back to the 87 wRC+ hitter he's been for the entire month of July or worse, the 66 wRC+ hitter he's been since being called up on May 26.

When this roster is fully healthy and Caglianone is back in the fold, at the very least he'll be the left-handed hitting platoon option for Grichuk, who has proven his worth hitting against southpaws throughout his 12-year major league career.

However, just like they might do in center, Kansas City could swing bigger here and greatly upgrade the left field position entirely. This could see Grichuk play more right and take some ABs against lefties away from Caglianone - who could either make up those plate appearances at first or DH or get some more time off considering he himself has been poor this season since his call-up. This scenario would certainly spell a bench role for Rave.

There's no shortage of corner outfielders out there, it's just a matter of whether or not the Royals are content with continuing to gamble on Rave's recent good fortune or be proactive and continue to add more proven entities in the corner like Grichuk.